Football

Days after reversing its previous ruling and announcing its decision to start the 2020 football season in October, the Big Ten released an updated version of the conference calendar Saturday morning.

IT. IS. ON. #GoCats pic.twitter.com/FRkVJQpMf1

— Northwestern Football (@NUFBFamily) September 19, 2020

Northwestern will open its season at Ryan Field against Maryland on Oct. 24. The Wildcats are then slated to face Nebraska, Wisconsin and Illinois at home, and Iowa, Purdue, Michigan State and Minnesota on the road. The 2020 season will close on Dec. 19 with what the conference has labeled its “Champions Week”: The top teams in the East and the West divisions will face off in the Big Ten Championship Game, and teams in the same slot in each division’s standings will meet.

The Wildcats will line up against three teams ranked in the AP Preseason Top 25: No. 12 Wisconsin on Nov. 21, No. 19 Minnesota on Dec. 5 and No. 24 Iowa on Oct. 31. NU received a single vote in the AP’s poll.

As announced on Wednesday, there will be no public sale of tickets for Big Ten football games. The conference is evaluating each campus’ situation to attempt to accommodate families of athletes and program staff members at home and away games.

The Big Ten has yet to announce its plans for other fall sports.

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